Venezuelan League

From BR Bullpen

The Venezuelan League, in Spanish Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP), is a winter league based in Venezuela. The league's champion represents the nation in the Caribbean Series, which it has won seven times (1970, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1989, 2006, 2009). The league was founded in late 1945, played its first season in 1946 before moving to a fall schedule later that year. The LVBP currently has eight teams. The teams play a first league round of 63 games from October to December and the best 5 teams play a second league phase of 16 games in Round-Robin format in January. The best 2 teams from the Round-Robin then face each other in a best of 7 Final to determine the league's champion.

The first season began on January 12, 1946. At first, all games were played on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at Estadio Cerveza Caracas in San Agustín, Caracas during the day. After Cerveza Caracas (Caracas Brewery) provided the stadium with lighting, games were added on Tuesday nights. Vargas, managed by Daniel Canónico,won the first championship with 18 wins and 12 loses. The league's second season took place across two calendar years, which the league has continued to do since the 1946-1947 season.

The 1953/1954 season saw the replacement of two teams, Vargas and Venezuela, which had both left the LVBP due to economic difficulties. Taking their place were two teams, Gavilanes and Pastora, based in Estado Zulia in the far northwest of the country. The far-flung league would only last for a year. After the season, both Zulia-based teams were dropped. New investors bought back Venezuela and a new team Santa Marta was founded, based in La Guaira, Zulia. The LVBP began its tenth season, in 1954, with four teams. However, the two Zulia teams formed their own Western league with four teams: Gavilanes, Pastora, Rapiños, and Centauros.

The 1957/1958 season saw the introduction of a post-season series between the two Venezuelan leagues, the Liga Central based around Caracas and the Liga Occidental, based in Zulia. The winner would then be the representative of Venezuela in the Caribbean Series. Up until this season the Venezuelan representative always came from the Liga Central. The first winner of this new playoff format was Industriales which swept Rapiños in four games.

The 1959/1960 Liga Central season was marred by a labor dispute between the Player's Association the team owners. The players had demanded the termination of the recently instituted playoffs system, because the alleging that the players on the eliminated teams were not paid during the semi-finals. The league decided to eliminate playoffs.

In mid-December, Alejandro Carrasquel, manager of Pampero, struck Eduardo Moncada, journalist and a team director. The league suspended Carrasquel for two years and the Player's Association threatened to go on strike in support of Carrasquel, whose penalty seemed overly harsh.

The dissent escallated when the players refused to participate in the All-Star game on December 24 in Maracaibo. In response, several players were suspended by the League and the rest of the season was was cancelled. Rapiños, winners of Liga Occidental, would represented Venezuela in twelth the Caribbean Series in 1960. This would be the last series featuring Cuba or Panama and would be the last series played until 1970.

In 1991, the LVBP expanded to eight teams with the addition of the Caribes de Oriente and Petroleros de Cabimas. The league also split into two four-team divisions, Oriental (East) and Occidental (West). The top teams from both divisions would play in the semifinals and then the finals to determine the league's champion. The divisional set up was: